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Looking East from Meall a'Ghiubhais - Dennis Smith
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Meet Report
1st to 3rd June 2002 - Gairloch (Jubilee Weekend)
Despite an unpromising forecast a large number of us descended on
the Sands Holiday Park at Gairloch to celebrate the Jubilee weekend.
I counted 29 people and 20 tents but no flags or bunting. Older and
wiser members have told me that this is not a record but I was still
impressed.
Clearly a multi activity weekend was planned with bikes and barbecues.
Not for the first time the intricacies of bike racks nearly resulted
in disaster. Alistair put his bike rack on upside down with 2 bikes
attached. He made it to Crianlarich where Stephanie spotted the crucial
error.
Inverewe gardens was a popular choice for the early arrivals on
Friday. Saturday was much more promising. Richard took the chance
to bag his penultimate Corbett on a day raiding trip to Beinn Lair.
He seemed disappointed that it had only taken 9 hours. Not long enough
for Gillian either who bagged another Corbett on the way back. The
Baosbheinn group seemed to suffer from some localised hurricane force
winds, with Alan R resorting to a crawl to get to the summit.
It wasn't exactly warm in the evening at the campsite but at least
the wind was keeping the midges away. I noticed some smug smiles on
the faces of the people who had brought duvet jackets.
Sunday saw a very leisurely start. The club's English contingent
found a pub in Gairloch to watch England v Argentina in the morning.
The long June evenings enabled some hills to be done afterwards - Ben
Alligin, Ben Damph, Slioch, Beinn Eighe, Baosbheinn, Ben Airigh Charr,
Sail Mhor and some climbing "reccies" - the rock was still too greasy.
Arriving back at the campsite we saw a gigantic bus parked outside
the shower block. A party of German school children had arrived and
made camp just beside us. Those of us who had camped towards the middle
of the spot gradually became encircled. Fortunately, everything was
quiet in the German camp and there were no international incidents.
On Monday morning it was pouring with rain. Most people made a
quick escape. Alistair managed to have a breakfast barbecue with the
help of his umbrella. In the end only 9 people were left but the early
birds definitely didn't get the worms. By midday the skies were
clearing quickly and it turned into a glorious afternoon and an even
more glorious evening. Alan R set off for a quick bag of Sail Mhor
but was tempted onto one of the subsidiary tops of An Teallach. He
would have gone further but had to turn back - expecting a short day,
he hadn't taken any food.
At last a nice sunny evening to sit outside and drink wine and beer
while watching a chinese cookery demonstration by Jon and Jo.
Tuesday was the start of a mini heatwave in the Northwest ...
Alison